Other Convention Proposals

Convention of States

While many groups are advocating an Article V convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, Convention of States, a project of Citizens for Self-Governance, a conservative advocacy organization, has a more far-reaching plan. Its “Convention of States” plan calls for a constitutional convention to draft an amendment to “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.”

Citizens for Self-Governance advocates a complete change in how the federal government operates. Its Facebook page features attacks on the IRS, the EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court, and President Obama’s executive order on immigration as examples of federal government overreach. COS also has attacked the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 landmark ruling on marriage equality, arguing that an Article V convention could help overturn the decision.

Citizens for Self Governance (“CSG”) is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization as the “John Hancock Committee for the States.” Its lobbying arm to promote the constitutional convention, Convention of States Action, is a 501(c)(4). Neither group is required to disclose donors, but tax documents show that a significant portion of CSG’s funding has come from donor-advised funds such as the Koch-linked Donors Trust and the Greater Houston Community Foundation. The latter has been one of CSG’s biggest funders, contributing $859,382 in 2011 and $1,164,268 in 2012. For 2013 however, the Foundation’s tax documents show just a $5,000 contribution to CSG, and reveal it came from Houston real estate mogul Richard Weekley. A prominent advocate for tort reform in Texas, Weekley has attended secretive fundraising meetings hosted by the Koch brothers and is a mega-contributor to GOP and conservative causes, including the Republican National Committee and numerous members of Congress. It is unclear if all of the Greater Houston Community Foundation’s funding to CSG was provided on behalf of Weekley.

An Article V call based on Citizens United

Far to the left on the political spectrum from Article V convention advocates like Coburn, Huckabee, and Citizens for Self-Governance, a collection of campaign finance reform activists is pushing for an Article V convention to change campaign finance law.

Galvanized by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, these activists favor an Article V convention to propose an amendment that would permit new campaign finance regulations. Led by Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, their call for a convention channels frustrations with a nonresponsive government similar to those heard on the right. In 2011, Lessig teamed with Mark Meckler and Citizens for Self-Governance to host a conference promoting the idea of a new constitutional convention.

Professor Lessig, an advocate for a convention, briefly described his views to a popular audience during a television interview with Bill Maher on HBO on October 16, 2015. Professor Lessig told Maher that "people get terrified when you use the word ‘constitutional convention’ because technically a constitutional convention can do whatever the hell it wants. And that’s not what we’re talking about. The Constitution gives us the ability to have a convention for one purpose: to propose amendments." Whether a convention may only have “one purpose” is widely disputed, as discussed in this report. For example, leading constitutional scholar Professor Laurence Tribe said it is an open, unresolved question whether, among other things, the "convention can set its own rules, independent of Article V," and change the threshold for ratification – which goes far beyond merely proposing amendments.